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Thinking about thinking

I was reading WTF by Robert Peston this morning. ‘How on earth’ I asked myself ‘does a man with as many commitments as this find the time to write? And not just a paragraph now and then, but a whole book!’

Thanks to @PaperPolly for illustration

I suppose that the answer is just a simple one of prioritising actions. I know that I want to write; it’s just that I don’t seem to be able to find the time to do it. The short answer is therefore to make the time. In the end, we do what we want to do. But… sometimes in retrospect we wish we had done things differently. Perhaps a little less time spent on my phone? Or looking at emails? I have (at least) three books in my head. Probably a dozen half-hatched ideas. So my failure in life isn’t failing to finish things (like some people); it’s not starting them in the first place!

Over the last two years, I also have come to realise the importance of ideas. And ideas start with thinking. The funny thing is though, ideas don’t always come along when you expect them, much like many other things in life. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that constant rumination of a problem or an issue is what drives the generation of ideas. Then before you know it, you are in the shower (my favourite place for ideas generation) or on your bike (second favourite) and – Bing! (lightbulb). Acting on and enabling these ideas is at least as important as having them in the first place.

So my New Year’s resolution is twofold: Think more and write more. I want to have at least one book finished by the end of the year and perhaps another half-done. Ambitious? Yes, definitely. Over-ambitious? Check in same time next year!